On Thursday night, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) participated in a NewsNation town hall moderated by Chris Cuomo. While Kamala Harris' town hall on CNN from the night before was full of her ranting and raving against former and potentially future President Donald Trump, Vance looked to strike a more conciliatory tone, with many praiseworthy answers. One answer in particular, however, about friendship and civility has garnered considerable attention.
"Two weeks from today, half of our country is going to be devastated," an audience member, named Rebecca, pointed out when asking her question. "And so, you know, looking at it from the winning side versus the losing side, do you have any thoughts on how the winning side can help, you know, outreach or lend a hand to those that might not like the outcome?"
Vance reminded Rebecca about how "leadership can really set this tone." This included in 2016 when Trump was elected and decided not to go after his political rival, Hillary Clinton, once he took office. "No, it's time for us to heal as a country, actually realize that we're on the same time," Vance reminded when it comes to Trump's response about Clinton.
On the importance of having to "set the tone right," Vance reminded that "we have to set the tone that we’re all Americans, we’re all in this together, and that we’re all part of the same American family," also speaking about "responsibility," and how "we've got to be better at communicating and talking to one another."
Vance then brought up a narrative we've heard ad nauseam from the Harris-Walz campaign as well as Democrats in general, which is "threats to democracy," a term that Democrats claim applies to the Trump-Vance ticket.
"To me, the biggest threat to democracy is the rising tide of censorship, the idea that we should be trying to silence our fellow Americans rather than persuade them and talk to them," Vance said to applause.
"That’s always going to that’s always going to lead to people being pissed off because they don’t like to be told what to think or what to say. They like to talk to one another, and that’s one thing that I’ll always commit to, as you know your vice president for the next four years. I’ll always try to talk to people. We’ll go out there and we’ll do events with people who disagree with us. We’ll answer questions from people who don’t always see eye to eye. But I think if we set the tone at the top, the leadership of this country is all about communicating with one another, I think that’s how we start to heal the divide, but we all have a role in it," Vance said, talking about what he specifically will pledge to do, rather than just sticking to blaming his political opponents, as Harris has a habit of doing.
Although he noted, "I don’t get too personal all the time," Vance brought up his own experiences with his friends. "But you know, one of the things I’ve seen, especially from, you know, some of my wife’s friends and some of my friends, is that they disagree with us on politics. Sometimes they’ll get very personal about it. And if you’re discarding a lifelong friendship because somebody votes for the other team, then you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake, and you should do something different," he continued to more applause.
While Vance expects "most of my family obviously" to vote for the ticket they're on, he also added that he does have friends and acquaintances "who aren’t necessarily going to vote for me," making clear that "doesn't make them people."
That led to Vance giving his "most important advice," which is that "whether you vote for me, whether you vote for Donald Trump, whether you vote for Kamala Harris, don’t cast aside family members and lifelong friendships. Politics is not worth it, and I think if we follow that principle will heal the divide in this country."
Here's that remarkable quote from JD Vance during the #NewsNation #VanceTownHall about civility:
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 25, 2024
"We've got to be better at communicating and talking to one another. The biggest thing I worry about and we talk threats to democracy -- that's a term that you hear a lot -- to me,… pic.twitter.com/Ld7w4m4D9r
Vance's town hall was a trending topic for X on Thursday and Friday morning, including his answer to this particular question.
Will such a moment from the town hall help the Trump-Vance ticket? It looks like it just might. Frank Luntz shared how "quite a few undecided voters" in his focus group may not like Trump, but shared that they vote for Vance.
It's words like this that have made quite a few undecided voters in my focus groups say "I don't like Trump at all, but I will cast my vote for JD Vance." https://t.co/gMMRnZ5wqO
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 25, 2024
Unfortunately, we've seen too often how leftists abandon friendships and family for politics. The Hill put out a piece last month, "Taylor Swift, Brittany Mahomes underscore dividing lines: Can Democrats and Republicans be friends?" The Independent, a leftist outlet from the United Kingdom, has been harping on such a bipartisan friendship in particular, even publishing a claim from Katie Rosseinsky: "Sorry, Taylor Swift – friendships that cross political lines never work."
The hysterical narratives about "threats to democracy" and "fascism" in the remaining days of this election cycle have been thanks to Harris, who keeps bringing up claims from former Chief of Staff John Kelly that Trump said he wanted generals "like Hitler." Vance was asked about and addressed that during the town hall as well, with Leah covering earlier how he called out Kelly as a "disgruntled ex-employee."